Senegal’s reputation as a bastion of democracy in an unstable region is on the line after protesters clashed with riot police outside parliament on Monday.

Inside, lawmakers passed a contentious bill to extend President Macky Sall’s tenure and delay elections after he called off a planned election with just three weeks to go.

There was a heated atmosphere in the chamber, and some opposition MPs had been removed before the vote by police clad in riot gear after they tried to block proceedings.

Khalifa Sall, a leading opponent and a former mayor of Dakar, who is not related to the president, called the delay a “constitutional coup” and urged people to protest against it. His political coalition has vowed to go to court.

Thierno Alassane Sall, another candidate, also no relation, called it “high treason” and urged his supporters to gather in front of the National Assembly to protest and “remind MPs to stand on the right side of history”.

The proposal needed the support of three-fifths (i.e. 99) of the 165 deputies to pass. The ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition, of which President Sall’s Alliance for the Republic party is part, has a slight majority in parliament.

In the end 105 MPs voted for the proposal. A six-month postponement was originally proposed, but a last-minute amendment extended it to 10 months, or 15 December.

Mr Sall reiterated that he was not planning to run for office again. But his critics accuse him of either trying to cling on to power or unfairly influencing whoever succeeds him.

No sooner had he announced the unprecedented postponement than protesters marched across the capital, Dakar, to call for a reversal.

Source: BBC

Senegalese President Macky Sall on Saturday announced the indefinite postponement of the presidential election scheduled for February 25, just hours before official campaigning was due to start.

In an address to the nation, Sall said he had signed a decree abolishing a previous measure that set the date as lawmakers investigate two Constitutional Council judges whose integrity in the election process has been questioned. “I will begin an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election,” Sall added without giving a new date.

It is the first time that Senegal has delayed a presidential vote. Its four largely peaceful transitions of power via the ballot box since independence from France in 1960 have built up its reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.

Last month, the Constitutional Council approved 20 candidates but disqualified dozens of others from the race, including opposition leaders Ousmane Sonko and Karim Wade.

Sall had repeatedly said he would hand over power in early April to the winner of the vote. After announcing he would not run for a third term as president, Sall designated Prime Minister Amadou Ba from his party as his would-be successor.

Inquiry on Constitutional Council

Senegal’s parliament on Wednesday approved a commission of inquiry into the workings of the Constitutional Council – the body which both finalises the list of candidates and announces the winner of the election.

Many MPs from the president’s own party unexpectedly voted in favour of the inquiry, fuelling speculation that they could be trying to delay a vote they fear losing.

The campaign to establish an inquiry was launched by disqualified candidate Wade. He has accused two of the seven members of the Constitutional Council of having links with presidential hopefuls, including Prime Minister Amadou Ba, endorsed by the outgoing president.

Before the president’s speech, the influential League of Imams and Preachers of Senegal on Saturday warned of the dangers of postponement and appealed directly to President Sall to take steps to avoid fuelling instability.

“Any attempt to postpone the elections would be fraught with pointless risks,” it said in a statement. “As Senegal is stable in all respects and on track for elections, the wisest decision for the head of state would be to do everything possible to ensure that free and transparent elections are held.”

Senegalese voters are due to choose a successor to President Sall, who is not seeking a third term. For the first time in Senegal’s history, the incumbent is not on the ballot. His handpicked successor, Prime Minister Amadou Ba, is among 20 candidates cleared by the constitutional council to run.

Source: Reuters

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced Sunday they would be leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) “without delay”, citing the injustice of sanctions ECOWAS levied on each country following takeovers by military juntas.

The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced Sunday their immediate withdrawal from the West African bloc ECOWAS.

The leaders of the three Sahel nations issued a statement saying it was a “sovereign decision” to leave the Economic Community of West African States “without delay”.

Struggling with jihadist violence and poverty, the regimes have had tense ties with ECOWAS since coups took place in Niger last July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

All three were suspended from ECOWAS with Niger and Mali facing heavy sanctions.

They have hardened their positions in recent months and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States”.

A French military withdrawal from the Sahel — the region along the Sahara desert across Africa — has heightened concerns over the conflicts spreading southward to Gulf of Guinea states Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.

The prime minister appointed by Niger’s military regime on Thursday blasted ECOWAS for “bad faith” after the bloc largely shunned a planned meeting in Niamey.

Niger had hoped for an opportunity to talk through differences with fellow states of ECOWAS which has has cold-shouldered Niamey, imposing heavy economic and financial sanctions following the military coup that overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

Source: AFP

Liberia’s new president, Joseph Boakai, was sworn into office Monday after his narrow win in a November election. Boakai, who at age 79 is the country’s oldest sitting head of state, promised to unite and rescue Africa’s oldest republic from its economic woes.

“Partisanship must give way to nationalism,” Boakai told citizens and foreign delegation members who attended his inauguration ceremony in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. He listed improving adherence to the rule of law, fighting corruption and renewing “the lost hope” of citizens as his priorities.

The ceremony, however, ended abruptly after Boakai, who wore traditional Liberian attire for the occasion, began to show signs of physical distress while speaking. Officials led him away from the podium after he unsuccessfully tried to continue his address.

A spokesperson for Boakai’s political party said the president’s weakness was caused by heat and had nothing to do with his health.

Boakai has dismissed concerns about his age, arguing that it came with a wealth of experience and achievements that would benefit the country.

He won a tight run-off election to defeat Liberia’s youngest-ever president, George Weah. Public goodwill toward soccer legend-turned-politician Weah waned as he neared the end of his first six-year term. Critics accused him of not fulfilling campaign promises to fix Liberia’s ailing economy, stamp out corruption and to ensure justice for victims of the country’s back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

Boakai, who earned a university degree in business administration, has been active in Liberia’s national politics since the 1980s, when he served as the agriculture minister. Starting in 2006, he spent 12 years as vice president under Africa’s first democratically elected female leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

He lost his first run for the presidency in 2017 to Weah, who took over from Sirleaf in the West African nation’s first democratic transfer of power since the end of its civil wars. Boakai touted his second presidential campaign as a rescue mission to free Liberians from what he described as Weah’s failed leadership.

His promises notwithstanding, any positive changes from the new Liberian leader are likely to come slowly considering how different Boakai’s agenda is from his predecessors, according to Ibrahim Nyei, a researcher and political analyst at Liberia’s Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research.

“It is not going to be a walk in the park for the Boakai administration,” Nyei said. “The new leadership will have to review concessions agreements signed by Weah and Ellen’s governments to establish which one works in the interest of Liberia (and) seek new international partners that will help address some of the country’s challenges.”

Monrovia resident Ansu Banban Jr. said he thinks Boakai will improve the lives of citizens. “I do not expect anything less than good from the president,” Banban said.

Boakai has a public reputation as a “hardworking and humble politician” whose personality and political experience suggest he “may show more dedication toward combating corruption than previous administrations,” said Zoe McCathie, a political and security analyst at Africa-focused Signal Risk Consulting.

“Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Boakai will be able to fully address this matter due to the entrenched nature of corruption within Liberian politics,” McCathie said. “Achieving sustained economic growth is expected to be an uphill battle for the Boakai administration (because) of the Liberian economy’s lack of diversification and dependence on imports.”

Source: AP

Russia has reopened its diplomatic mission in Burkina Faso after a gap of nearly 32 years.

The West African country has been distancing itself from its historical partner France over the past year.

The Russian Embassy in Ouagadougou was reopened on Thursday. It was closed in 1992.

This was all announced by the government of Burkina Faso and separately confirmed by the Russian Ambassador to Ivory Coast Alexei Saltykov.

“Russia formally reopened its embassy this Thursday in Ouagadougou,” the Burkinabe Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

While announcing the news, Saltykov also said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would name the new ambassador to Burkina Faso. Saltykov is to head the mission in the meantime.

“Despite our physical absence here, bilateral cooperation in the political and economic fields has never ceased,” he went on to say, describing Burkina Faso as “an old partner with whom we have solid and friendly ties.”

Burkina Faso, once under French rule, is currently ruled by a military junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traore which seized power in September, the second coup in eight months against pro-France governments.

After the coup, France recalled its ambassador from Ouagadougou and has not replaced the envoy.

Burkina Faso’s military leaders have suspended the French TV outlets LCI and France24 as well as Radio France Internationale (RFI) and expelled the correspondents of the French newspapers Liberation and Le Monde over their “subversive activities.”

In September, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Ministry ordered France’s military attaché Emmanuel Pasquier and his team to leave over “subversive activities.”

In October, the country signed a deal with Russia for the construction of a nuclear power plant to boost the energy supply to the Sahel nation.

Less than a quarter of the population in Burkina Faso has access to electricity.

Being one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso has been under the influence of terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh that have killed thousands of its citizens, creating one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in Africa.

Source: Presstv

Polling stations opened Wednesday in a high-stakes Democratic Republic of Congo general election pitting the incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi against a fragmented opposition, as much of the east of the country is mired in conflict.

Polling stations opened in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country at 6 am (0400 GMT) and will close at 5 pm local time.

AFP journalists saw the first voter casting his ballot at a polling station in the eastern city of Kisangani, which sits in a region an hour ahead of the rest of the huge country, which straddles two time zones.

Voters still waiting in line at 5 pm will be given tokens and polling booths will stay open until they cast their votes, an official at the electoral commission told AFP.

The government declared a bank holiday for Wednesday, and as during previous elections, it closed the borders and suspended domestic flights.

Around 44 million Congolese, in a nation of 100 million, are registered to choose their president as well as lawmakers in national and provincial assemblies, and local councillors.

In a first, Congolese citizens residing in South Africa, Belgium, the United States and France will also cast ballots.

More than 100,000 candidates are running for various positions, and while counting is set to begin as soon as polling stations close, results are not expected to be announced for several days. 

Several observation missions will be watching the voting process, with the largest one run by a union of Catholic and Protestant churches mobilising 25,000 election observers.

Leaders of this influential mission promised Tuesday to conduct a “parallel count” for the presidential election.

‘Foreign candidates’

Tshisekedi, 60, faces 18 challengers.

The incumbent, who took office in 2019 and is running for a second five-year term, is considered the front-runner to win in the single-round presidential vote.

Tshisekedi’s record, as he himself has acknowledged, is mixed. He has presided over years of economic growth but little job creation and soaring inflation. He is asking for another term to “consolidate his gains”.

Throughout the campaign, he also poured scorn on what he termed “foreign candidates” – suggesting that his opponents have dual loyalties and lack the will to stand up to Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of funding rebel groups on its soil.

Moise Katumbi, a 58-year-old businessman and former governor of mineral-rich Katanga province, is the main target of such attacks.

Armed conflict in eastern DRC overshadowed much of the electoral campaign. Militias have plagued the troubled region for decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.

Tensions have resumed since the M23 group, which is allegedly backed by Rwanda, began capturing swathes of territory in late 2021.

Clashes with M23 fighters have subsided in recent weeks but the rebels continue to hold sway over large parts of North Kivu province. Citizens living in those areas will not be able to vote.

Other presidential candidates include Martin Fayulu, a 67-year-old former oil executive who says he was the true winner of the 2018 election that brought Tshisekedi to power.

Surgical gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, 68, who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work helping rape victims, is also running.

All the major opposition candidates say they suspect the government of preparing electoral fraud.

Flory Tshimanga, a 32-year-old seller of mobile phone credits in Kinshasa, said he thought the vote would proceed without hiccups.

“It’s when the results come in that there could be problems,” he said.

Source: AFP

Liberian leader and football legend George Weah conceded defeat to opposition leader Joseph Boakai after a tight presidential run-off, saying it was “time to put national interest above personal interest”.

The latest and nearly complete results showed Boakai leading with nearly 51 percent of the votes in Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic founded by freed American slaves.

“The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that… Boakai is in a lead that we cannot surpass,” Weah said in a speech on national radio late on Friday.

He said his CDC party “has lost the election but Liberia has won,” adding: “This is the time for graciousness in defeat”.

The 78-year-old Boakai lost to Weah, 57, by a large margin in the second-round presidential vote in 2017.

With more than 99.5 percent of the polling stations reporting vote tallies after Tuesday’s second-round vote, Boakai had garnered 50.89 percent of ballots cast, according to the election commission.

Boakai was 28,000 votes ahead of Weah, according to Friday’s figures. The two finished neck-and-neck in the first round last month, with a national lead of just 7,126 votes for Weah.

The election of Weah —  the first African footballer to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or — had sparked high hopes of change in Liberia, which is still reeling from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

But critics have accused his government of corruption and him of failing to keep a promise to improve the lives of the poorest.

The United States congratulated “president-elect Boakai on his victory and President Weah for his peaceful acceptance of the results”.

“We call on all citizens to follow President Weah’s example and accept the results,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

‘Liberian people have spoken’           

Weah said he had spoken to Boakai “to congratulate him on his victory”.

“The Liberian people have spoken, and we have heard their voice. However, the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country,” Weah said in his speech.

“Let us heal the divisions caused by the campaign and come together as one nation and one united people.”

Weah who remains president until the handover of power in January pledged to “continue to work for the good of Liberia”.

It will be the second peaceful handover of power from one democratically-elected government from another in two decades.

The elections were the first since the United Nations in 2018 ended its peacekeeping mission, created after more than 250,000 people died in the two civil wars in Liberia between 1989 and 2003.

International observers, including the European Union, have commended Liberia for holding a peaceful election.

Regional bloc ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, said the poll was “largely” peaceful, but noted isolated incidents that led to “injuries and hospitalisations” in four provinces.

Clashes during the campaign left several dead before the first round and raised fears of post-election violence.

Around 2.4 million Liberians were eligible to vote on Tuesday and the turnout was roughly 66 percent, according to the electoral commission website.

Boakai is an old political hand, having served as vice president to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, from 2006 to 2018.

Liberia is home to around five million people and one of the poorest countries in the world.

More than a fifth of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.

Source: AFP

Gabon’s military leaders who deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba in August announced on Monday that elections would be held in August 2025 under a timetable that first foresees national dialogue.

“August 2025: elections and end of the transition,” a regime spokesman said on live state TV, referring to an official but “indicative” transition timeframe, adopted by cabinet but to be submitted to a national conference next year.

The conference, scheduled for April 2024, would be made up of all the country’s “vital actors”.

Ali Bongo, 64, who had ruled the central African country since 2009, was overthrown by military leaders on August 30, moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election, which both the army and the opposition declared fraudulent.

Gabon’s new Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima has said that a two-year transition before the free elections promised by the country’s new military rulers was a “reasonable objective”.

Ndong Sima was appointed as head of the transitional government by General Brice Oligui Nguema, who led the coup d’etat against Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Source: AFP

Liberians began voting Tuesday on whether to give football legend George Weah a second term as president, with peace among voters’ main concerns in a nation still scarred by back-to-back civil wars.

An hour before polling got under way at 0800 GMT, hundreds of people were already waiting to cast their ballots at voting stations, mostly set up in schools, in the capital, Monrovia.

“I vote for the good of my country. I expect peace and development,” Agostina Momo, 18, who is voting for the first time, said.

The main political parties have pledged that the presidential and legislative elections in the West African country will pass off peacefully.

But the recent killing of three people in clashes between their supporters has fuelled fears of a return to violence.

Trouble also marred the close of Weah’s re-election campaign Sunday, with his supporters and opposition members throwing stones at each other and police intervening with tear gas.

AFP counted at least five men with injuries, some with large gashes on their heads.

“What we expect most is peace,” said Melvine Zoega, 37, among a group of men discussing their concerns in the city of Buchanan, 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the capital Monrovia.

Healthcare, education and roads, jobs and the cost of living all came up, but only after fears of a return to violence.

Between 1989 and 2003, the conflicts in Liberia left more than 250,000 people dead.

Incumbent Weah, 57, — the first African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, in 1995 — faces 19 presidential candidates and a likely second-round runoff in early November.

But he has campaigned on the slogan “One round victory”.

“We must all cherish this peace and continue to preserve it, because without peace, our world will be difficult,” Weah told thousands of people gathered in Monrovia Sunday.

“Without peace, development will not take place.”

The former international footballer came to power promising to create jobs and invest in education, but critics say he has failed to keep his pledges.

The national electoral commission is seeking to reassure people it can organise fair and credible polls.

“Everything’s ready… We anticipate that all should go well,” said commission chairperson Davidetta Browne-Lansanah.

The election is the first held since the United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2018.

The European Union, the African Union, the West African bloc, ECOWAS, and the United States have deployed observers, in a region hit by a string of recent coups.

Development and corruption

Polling stations are due to close at 1800 GMT, with the 2.4 million voters also electing members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

First results are expected within 15 days.

Former vice president Joseph Boakai, who lost to Weah six years ago, is among the frontrunners for the presidency.

He has said that any vote cheating or manipulation will lead to “the end of this country”.

The 78-year-old has forged alliances including with former warlord and senator Prince Johnson, who has threatened a popular revolt if the ruling party manipulates the elections.

Boakai has pledged to restore the country’s image, develop infrastructure and improve life for the poorest.

More than a fifth of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank, and the price of staple foods has soared.

Boakai, who served as vice president between 2006 and 2018, presents himself as an honest alternative to Weah, whom he accuses of presiding over a corrupt system.

The United States has sanctioned five senior Liberian officials for alleged corruption in three years.

The watchdog Transparency International ranked Liberia 142nd of 180 countries in its 2022 corruption perceptions index.

‘Man of the situation’

Corruption is not a key concern, however, for George Mobo, in Monrovia’s West Point slum.

“Look at African countries and tell me which country is not corrupt,” the 30-year-old said.

Education, peace and job creation are his top priorities.

His friends agreed, sitting near a brand-new football stadium, built under the president’s watch.

“President Weah is the man of the situation. He built roads, made education free. And there was coronavirus for two years. Now he will do better,” said John Seaton, 24.

Weah, who entered politics after a football career playing for PSG, Monaco and AC Milan, grew up in the slums of Monrovia and is popular with young people in a country where over 60 percent of the population is under 25.

Source: AFP

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has removed the prime minister and dissolved his government, the presidency’s secretary general Aboudramane Cisse said on Friday.

No reason was provided for the move.

“The president expresses his gratitude to Prime Minister Patrick Achi and to all members of the government for their commitment to serving the nation over the past years,” Cisse said.

They will remain in temporary charge until a new prime minister and government are appointed, he added. Ivory Coast will hold a presidential election in 2025.

Source: REUTERS